Toyota's tour-guide robot seeks peace... and total surrender of mankind
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Not content with its ever-tightening grip on the global auto industry, Toyota has expanded its goals and embarked on a quest to create a new droid army with which it hopes to take control of the galaxy. Without Jedi to protect us, we're doomed.
Okay. It's really not that dire, but we weren't kidding about the Toyobots. The company has unveiled a new wheeled tour guide robot that will lead visitors around the Toyota Kaikan Exhibition Hall in Toyota City, Japan. The 'bot moves autonomously, communicates verbally, recognizes visitor nametags, and is able to avoid obstacles without outside assistance. Furthermore, it's equipped with three jointed fingers on each hand, which Toyota says enable it to sign autographs. (A word of caution: these had only three fingers, too.)
It's the latest showcase for Toyota's ongoing development of Partner Robots designed to assist people with the various tasks they encounter in their daily lives. Perhaps, in the future, one of the Toyota robots will be able to talk directly to the
Until then, however, we're really more interested in seeing one of these match up with Honda's ASIMO in a fight.
[Source: Toyota]
PRESS RELEASE:
TOYOTA DEVELOPS TOUR GUIDE ROBOT
New Robot to Give Tours at Toyota Kaikan Exhibition Hall in Japan
Toyota announced today that it has developed a tour guide robot that will escort visitors around the various displays of Toyota Kaikan Exhibition Hall in Toyota City, Japan from later this month.
The newly developed tour guide robot is equipped with autonomous movement capabilities for avoiding obstacles and with jointed fingers, allowing it to sign autographs. The robot is also able to interact with visitors through a combination of verbal communication and gestures.
Toyota is applying its mobility and manufacturing technologies, as well as its approach to making things, to developing Toyota Partner Robots that will support people in their daily lives and to help create a healthy and comfortable society in the future. Toyota Partner Robots performed at the Toyota Group Pavilion during the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi. Since then, Toyota has been committed to the continuous development of these robots, focusing on the four areas in which they can be of the most use to humans: assistance with domestic duties, assistance with nursing and medical care, assistance with manufacturing and assistance with short-distance personal transport.
Toyota plans to incorporate what it learns from using the tour guide robot at the Toyota Kaikan Exhibition Hall to further improve and develop its robots.
The Toyota Kaikan Exhibition Hall features exhibits and audio-visual presentations that illustrate Toyota's vision of enriching society through car manufacturing, as well as its most advanced car manufacturing technologies. The venue also holds various seasonal events and exhibitions.
Toyota Tour Guide Robot
Type
Wheeled model
Main areas of application
Guiding visitors and providing explanations of exhibits
Features
* Autonomous motion, allowing the robot to move toward a destination while avoiding obstacles
* Jointed fingers, allowing the robot to sign autographs
* Verbal communication, allowing the robot to interact with visitors
* Image recognition, allowing the robot to recognise visitors' nametags and direct its explanations to them directly
Height
1,200mm
Weight
60kg
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
geo.stewart 4:17PM (8/22/2007)
now, THAT's a sturdy woman
;-)
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Don 4:17PM (8/22/2007)
Does this one malfunction and fall over like the Honda-bot?
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gary 4:19PM (8/22/2007)
So it is true - Toyota is taking over the world. Hey everybody - they start building Robots.
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Ivey League Educated 4:22PM (8/22/2007)
Go Toyota! They are innovating future technologies while the US sits on our lazy asses and watches American Idol. I can see the headlines in 20 years:
"US robot makers struggle to maintain profitability as Honda and Toyota are years ahead in technology. GM did recently sign a new deal on battert suppliers for its vaporware robot: Chevy Lightning Bolt" Sound familiar?
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Stéphane Dumas 7:54PM (8/22/2007)
be careful for what you wish for Ivey league educated, remember some old sci-fi movies where robots decided to take control of their own destiny? ;-)
And besides Japan had once its own "Japanese idol" but not as the same kind as Americal idol http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_idol
sw 4:23PM (8/22/2007)
Must.... Destroy..... ASIMO
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Yggdrasilly 4:27PM (8/22/2007)
FISH...
...PLANKTON...
...SEA-GREENS...
...AND PROTEIN FROM THE SEA!!!
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Yggdrasilly 4:29PM (8/22/2007)
FISH...
...PLANKTON...
...SEA-GREENS...
...AND PROTEIN FROM THE SEA!!!
Reply
m. 4:57PM (8/22/2007)
At least the Tundra buyers can see where their monthly payments go : -) they might install those in your 2015 pickups to brush your teeth for you. Nice sculpture - tricky eyes.
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SPG 5:11PM (8/22/2007)
I'd love to see Lada make a robot.
The comedic value alone would make it much more popular then the Toyo-Bot.
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Hwins 5:21PM (8/22/2007)
Looks like a joke. At least Asimo can do stuff.
Don - they fixed the stair-climbing and brought it out for a successful demo. How's your robot doing?
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KenDubya 5:43PM (8/22/2007)
That sucks. Half the allure of the tour are the hot, young female tour guides that take you on the tours. Hopefully the robots are only for the exhibits at the Kaiken and to part of the plant and facility tours.
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Rob 7:12PM (8/22/2007)
Wow. Honda builds one of the best bipedal robots in the world, and Toyota builds some cheesy POS that doesn't even have LEGS. Wtf. They had stuff like this in the 1980s. Lame Toyota. Really lame.
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JC 7:33PM (8/22/2007)
Yeah, Toyota only build shitty robots:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh7xssnhoXM
This one can only play a trumpet. What a POS.
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wiilbot 7:44PM (8/22/2007)
Any recalls on the robot Yet!
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Bryan 9:44PM (8/22/2007)
Uhm yeah Ivey, hate to burst your bubble but Ford already made a robot and had it at auto shows all over the country. Thanks for trying though! This thing looks like a vacuum cleaner with a head on top.
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willbot 2:09AM (8/23/2007)
I'm just saying if one of the ball bearings break and the robot loses control plus hits oncoming spectators. Don't blame it on the floor mats.
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HSM 9:18AM (8/23/2007)
They're just trying to build more customers for their cars. How else do you build marketshare when all of the flesh and bone robots already own your product?
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